Achluophobia
by WarriorLoverInc
Summary: Long ago a terrible power was sealed away from the greedy humans who had misused it. Long ago, a hero had given his life to seal that power. To this day, the power is still residing in the temple carving it was locked in, and the hero keeps it there...
1. Prologue

**Achluophobia**

**By WarriorLoverinc**

**Prologue**

Long ago a terrible power was sealed away from the greedy humans who had misused it. Long ago, a hero had given his life to seal that power. To this day, the power is still residing in the temple carving it was locked in, and the hero keeps it there. This was an eternal battle that would be waged over the course of all space and time.

The awful power is an devastating force that feeds on every negative thing in existence, but the hero who fights it has an overpowering reserve of love and peace, more than enough to keep a mere shadow in check. One thing the power has but the hero lacks, is cunning. Poking, prodding, teasing, the power will someday direct a human to free it. All it had to do was wait.

…..

**Authors Notes: **So this is my third fan fiction, Pokémon, again. This is the Prologue; I promise more will be out soon. This was more of an impulse; I just _had_ to write it down. BTW, Achluophobia is the phobia of the dark.


	2. Ch 1: ATROPOS AKANE DETTA

**Achluophobia**

**By WarriorLoverInc**

**Chapter 1: ATROPOS AKANE DETTA**

"_There are two who are sealed in stone_

_For one it's a sentence_

_For the other a throne."_

Ash scrutinized a carving on one of the numerous walls of the ruins. It depicted a burning village with a human-shaped shadow grinning at the chaos. He also noticed a swirl of runes under the representation. Brock peeked over his shoulder.

"Professor Bael, what is this depicting?" he inquired.

The Professor turned from her colleagues with a _hmph_ look on her face. She was a fairly pretty middle-aged woman, with her lustrous brunette locks held up with a green rubber band in a high pony. She wore clothing complimentary to her profession, archaeology, or more specifically ancient runes. Professor Bael was at least as tall as Brock, but enjoyed keeping the girl-obsessed man as far away as possible.

"Intern!" she irritably called over her shoulder.

"Ye-yes?" A nerdy-looking boy wearing a lab coat too big for him and a clipboard exploding with papers jumped in surprise and adjusted his oversized glasses.

She jabbed a finger at the pair by the wall, "Help them out huh?"

"Y-y-yes ma'am!" The unnamed intern stumbled over to Brock and Ash, trying to keep all his papers in his arms and not fall. He failed at the latter. "Oof!" he tripped on even ground and fell flat on his face.

Ash helped him up, "You okay?"

The intern sniffed, "I-I'm alright." After a few seconds of scurrying to pick up the papers he joined the twosome at the wall, "You were wondering what this was right?"

Ash nodded, "You know right, uhh—"

"Ceymore," he adjusted his glasses again, "my name is Ceymore."

Without giving time to reply, he pointed to the carving, "This is a scene of ENYO destroying its second to last village before being captured and locked in stone." Just that description was not enough for Ceymore though, he continued, "The strange thing is, in these carvings, names are not capitalized, they are all caps. And Enyo is the Greek goddess of war, but this civilization predates the time of the Greek empire, so it would be impossible for them to have named their myths after the Greek's. This leaves the question, 'Are these the roots of Greek myths?'"

He then pointed to the runes and began reading from the middle out, "ENYO is destruction embodied, seizing the will of men and mercilessly annihilating all."

He straightened up, "Does that answer your question?"

Ash nodded, smiling, "Yeah, thanks!"

Brock glanced around, rubbing his chin, "This place has quite the layout and mythological ties huh?"

"Yep," Ceymore agreed, gesturing around the room they were in. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't very small either, it was spacey, with a tall ceiling. Every available surface was covered in carvings depicting everything from ancient daily life, to the civilizations myths. Even the floor had runes imprinted on it. "Long ago this was a 'Record Temple'. A temple that kept permanent records of things such as new leaders, wars, important events, legends, and hero's." He grinned, "They may have even created the first sun-dial." He glanced towards Professor Bael, and then turned to them to ask, "Would you like to see it?"

Simultaneously, Ash and Brock nodded.

"Great!" Ceymore smiled wide and ran off to ask permission from the Professor like a kid who finally found friends.

Just then Dawn ran out of a hallway behind them huffing. She was wearing pink rubber gloves and dragging Pikachu behind her on a string. Pikachu did not look happy; it growled and tried to break its restraints to run back down the hall. Ash turned to her, "Did you find Piplup?"

She nodded, holding up a Pokéball, "And Pikachu was there too," she puffed.

"Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, "I thought you were in my backpack back at the camp!" He scooped the electric-type Pokémon up in his arms.

"I wouldn't—" Dawn was about to warn Ash when suddenly…

"Chuuu…!" Pikachu charged up and gave Ash the biggest shock of his life. His hair was singed and he would hurt in the morning for sure.

Dawn grabbed Pikachu back with her gloved hands, "Piplup and Pikachu have been acting strange ever since we got here."

Ceymore joined them.

"Hello? W-what have we here?" He looked in disbelief at a still recovering Ash and a ticked looking Pikachu. "No, no, n-no. This j-just won't do." He took a collar out of his pocket and quickly slipped it around Pikachu's neck before it could fry him. The collar was a plain dark blue with a red light that blinked on the front; everyone could hear it softly humming.

"What's that?" Brock asked from afar—or as many know it—out of attack range.

"It's an energy cancelling collar," the intern enlightened them. "In this Record Temple there is strange energy emanating from some of the carvings. The only affect on humans is extreme nausea, and only from one carving. But all the carvings cause Pokémon to attack them and act strangely."

He took out a chart while Pikachu began to calm down and Dawn took her gloves off, "Speaking of acting strangely, Professor Bael must've really taken a liking to you three, she never lets outsiders on site, much less to the most important places. You must be good convincers."

The trio sweat dropped, they had found Professor Bael in a screaming match with a bartender when she had ticked him off, and he then found out she had no money to pay for her drinks. They'd settled the fight and paid for her, she could be kinda' scary sometimes, and they'd only known her for a day. But she was grateful to them and invited them to her research site. How could the threesome say no to that! Brock would follow her anywhere, Dawn thought it sounded neat, and Ash was hoping for an adventure. So far, things were going well.

They followed Ceymore out of the Record Temple and onto an open plain. After a few minutes of walking, they came to a huge stone disk set at the top of a small hill. It had runes all around the edges and two ovals in the center. Ceymore stepped onto it, "We assume this is an early sundial," he said. "You would stand in the middle and your shadow would tell the time." He placed his feet in the ovals.

Brock had crouched down and traced a rune with his finger, "There are forty-eight." He mused aloud.

Ceymore nodded, "Their civilization had a different way of telling time, but if we were to basically calculate it, a hypothetical hour for them would be around thirty of our minutes." He walked out of the middle and tapped a rune with his leather-shoed foot, "There is one rune that no matter where you stand, no matter when you stand, your shadow will not point to it." They all gathered around to see the rune while Pikachu sniffed it before wrinkling its little nose.

"The rune reads, 'ATROPOS AKANE DETTA'." He said solemnly. "Which roughly translates to 'Inevitable deep red end'."

"Inevitable deep red end?" Ash repeated the chilling statement.

"It could mean anything," Ceymore enlightened them; "It is inevitable that the sun turns deep red and ends the day."

_Or it could mean something much, much worse…_

Ash being the curious boy he was, stepped into the spaces in the center for a person's feet, and his shadow pointed directly at ATROPOS AKANE DETTA.

…..

**Authors Note:** Chapter 1 survived! My computer crashed. Oh how I love the geeks of the world for saving my precious data, they're like my babies! *Waterfalls of tears*


	3. Ch 2: Voices in the Night

**Achluophobia**

**By WarriorLoverInc**

**Chapter 2: Voices in the Night**

"_Those voices in the night,_

_They can give you quite the fright._

_But heed them not,_

_They are just figments sealed in rock."_

"Well, that was weird today."

Brock turned to Dawn, "Yeah, it was."

Ash was too busy stuffing food down his throat to answer anyone. His friends watched him and sweat dropped. A big shadowy worm-like thing inched between them and the fire at an excruciatingly slow pace. Ceymore's head appeared out of the front of it (turns out it was his sleeping-bag); he was clad in blue striped pajamas and was clutching a flashlight in one hand, "Psst!" he urgently called to them.

"What is it?" Dawn harshly whispered so she could be heard over Ash's loud eating noises.

"You guys should probably get in your tents now."

"Why's that Ceymore?" Brock gave him a quizzical expression.

Ceymore looked surprised, "Oh, you just got here so I guess no one told you." He leaned in as if he was about to tell some juicy celebrity gossip, "Strange things happen at night."

Ash had stopped eating momentarily so he could listen in, "What strange things?"

Ceymore visibly shivered, "Screams of pain, begging for mercy; maniacal laughter; moans; a sinister voice asking you to 'come out and play'…"

Brocks' eyebrow twitched, "Ceymore, has anyone ever called you pathetic?"

"Yes," he replied, "Why?"

Suddenly, a foot stomped down on the poor interns head. That foot just so happened to belong to Professor Bael. "What are you doing whispering nonsense into the guests' ears intern?"

Dawn sweat dropped again, "I'm guessing the Professor doesn't really believe that stuff though."

"I thought s-she'd know better by now." He groaned from under her foot.

Professor Bael pushed Ceymore aside and smiled widely at the gaping trio before her. Ash almost choked on his food. "So… what do you three want to do tomorrow?"

Ceymore weakly pushed himself into a kneeling position, he feebly suggested, "They could see the ENYO wall—!" The unfortunate intern was kicked down again by the Professor with a slight grunt, "I know!" she said as if in an epiphany, "I could show you the ENYO wall!"

The three sighed, wondering if the Professor always treated Ceymore like this. Ash started stuffing food in his mouth again, "That'd be a great idea." He somehow spoke through all the chewed up mush in his mouth. Dawn irately grabbed his plate away from him, "Ash that's disgusting! No-one wants to see your food, don't chew with your mouth open! Better yet, don't _talk_ with your mouth open!"

Ash furiously nodded, then motioned for her to hand the food over. Dawn reluctantly gave it back, and he started working his way through a burger like it was his last in the world.

…..

The fire was dying down; it was so dark out, the shadows had shadows. Nothing stirred but the trees in the wind, but as Ceymore said, moans and other dreadful sounds took a ride on the breeze. Although the gang had been scared out of their wits at first, they eventually dozed off. The trees rustled with a particularly strong gust of wind, and a small voice, like that of a toddler could be heard, first in the forest, then wandering through the encampment of researchers before stopping outside the flap of Ash, Brock, and Dawns tent.

"_Come out to play,"_ it giggled, _"Mister Ketchum, you had an interesting day."_

All the strangeness of this floated softly to Ash's ears as he lay prone in his sleeping bag, dreaming of home.

The voice went on, _"The ATROPOS AKNE DETTA has come."_ This time the giggle was a laugh, a fanatical laugh, _"Boy, your suffering has not yet even begun!"_

All the words were floating around and fading in and out in a terrifying manner, luckily, no-one was awake to be terrified. The weird voice faded away, and there were a few moments of silence, then, a breeze that one could only assume was not natural brushed aside the tent flap and whisked around the already untamed black hair on the back of Ash's head. He grumbled in his sleep and kicked Brock out of his space, then flipped onto his back, loudly snoring. Pikachu gave a cute yawn and rolled over as well, enjoying its new spot on its master's chest. The collar's light bulb that was around its neck was blinking furiously, clueing there were massive amounts of energy around and it was trying to cancel it all out before it overloaded.

"_Ash…"_ came a seductive whisper that could have been mistaken for the sound of the trees, _"Wake up Ash."_

The moment this command reached his ears, Ash's eyes inertly opened. But anyone could tell he was not really awake, at first his eyeballs were at the back of his head, but then they slowly rolled to the front, revealing the pupils and surrounding iris's to be a matte-black. He sat up, Pikachu fell off its trainer's warm body, but didn't bother with anything, it continued to sleep, curled up in Brocks hair now.

Now standing, Ash left the tent, heeding the voices commands and walking towards the Record Temple.

"_Good boy Ash,"_ soothingly the voice continued, _"you're almost there."_

He entered the ancient stone temple seemingly unaware of the strange sounds that floated by like ghosts as he walked through the maze of hallways in a trance-like state. After many minutes of his stagnant walking, Ash arrived at the room in the center of the temple, a place only certain personnel were allowed to enter, both in the past _and_ present. Before him stood a wall perhaps thirteen feet high and twenty feet long, depicting a vicious battle between a man and a dark being, in the middle of the wall directly in front of Ash was a mural of the shadowy being and the man in what had many similarities to a yin-yang symbol, except where there would be the black and white dots signifying balance in yin-yang, there were none in this instance.

Right under the giant mural there was intricately carved square panel about as big as Ash's hand and directly at his eye-height.

"_You know what to do Ash…"_

Torpidly, his hand reached to press the panel.

…..

**Authors Notes:** Dun dun dun! I'm so evil, leaving you with a cliff hanger! Don't worry; more should be out soon… Between homework and my life I'm not sure when soon will be. R&R plz!


	4. Ch 3: When Opens the Ground

**Achluophobia**

**By WarriorLoverInc**

**Chapter Three: When Opens the Ground**

"_The lever you never pull,_

_The button you never press._

_When opens the ground,_

_All one will dispossess."_

"_You know what to do Ash…"_

Torpidly, his hand reached to press the panel.

Suddenly, the strobe lights flashed on, startling Ash out of the spell over him. As his eyes regained their brown color, he stared at his outstretched hand just inches away from the panel with a confused look on his face. Behind him, Professor Bael, Dawn, Brock, and a sleepy looking Ceymore stood in one of the numerous entryways to the central room. They all just stood and stared at him, all except Ceymore who was dangling a Teddiursa plushie by the arm, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn, "What are you doing in here so late at night A—" he was interrupted by a yawn . But as soon as he opened his eyes and saw where Ash stood, he snapped wide awake and rushed over to him, snatching Ash by the shoulder and pulling him away quickly.

"Ash you know this wa—" he never finished his sentence because he suddenly doubled over and threw up on the floor.

"Idiot intern!" Professor Bael could be heard as she yelled at him from the doorway, "You're not wearing an energy cancelling bracelet! You're going to be sick for the next six hours which means you'll be late for work!"

Ceymore winced, still leaning over, "S-sorry Professor Bael."

The Professor stepped behind the wall in the hall and grabbed five bracelets that resembled Pikachu's energy cancelling collar. Speaking of Pikachu—

"Pikapi!" it rushed into the room and hopped onto Ash's head, "Pi?" Pikachu realized its trainer was staring dumbfounded at the wall in front of him. It waved a paw in his face, nothing. "Pikapii~i?"

Professor Bael handed a bracelet to Brock and Dawn, then snapped one on herself, "If you don't want to get sick like my ill-fated intern over there, I suggest you put these on." She then strode confidentially into the room, grabbed Ash and Ceymore's arms and snapped a bracelet on each of the boys. "Really, men now-a-days…" she muttered under her breath.

She turned to Ceymore and for once aimed a kind gesture at him. She stooped and rubbed his back as he squinted his eyes tightly closed and tried to fight the nausea. "You going to be okay?" she softly asked him.

Ceymore nodded slightly, "I—I think so Professor."

"That's good," she smiled, "THAT MEANS YOU'LL MAKE IT TO WORK!"

She startled him so badly he threw up again. She sighed and kept rubbing his back. Brock and Dawn rushed over to Ash, who was _still_ staring at the wall, his countenance displayed intense concentration. "Ash what are you _doing_ in here, it's past midnight." Dawn glanced at her watch which was right under her energy cancelling bracelet on her left arm.

He was startled out of his daze, "Hmm…" he thought for a minute, then it dawned on him, "what _am_ I doing here? I don't ever remember waking up." He glanced around, "Where am I?"

Suddenly, the Professor popped up behind him and examined him while leaning over his shoulder. She got right in his shocked face, then backed away again, "Ash Ketchum, you are one strange boy. Your shadow—and only your shadow—pointed to ATROPOS AKANE DETTA, and just now, you were facing the ENYO wall without so much as looking sick."

Ash blinked, "You mean this… is the ENYO wall?" He remembered them claiming to take him and his friends there tomorrow last night by the fireside.

She nodded, still inspecting him, "This is the only known wall in the whole temple that releases energy that affects humans."

Ash turned back around and skimmed the wall with wonder-filled eyes. Then he spoke, and everyone was content to just listen, "I felt something. Something was coming, or maybe something was calling me. I couldn't tell if it was evil or not, but it felt familiar…" he rubbed his chin, "but I'd never felt anything like that before."

He could tell there was something about this wall that was trying to tell him a secret, or get his attention. And even after everyone had dragged him back to his tent, and he had fallen asleep with Pikachu on his face, he knew the wall wasn't done with him yet.

…..

The next day, Ceymore was out sick, and the Professor acted angry at him, but Dawn could tell it was only skin deep. Professor Bael re-introduced them to the ENYO wall, but made sure even the immune Ash was wearing an ECB (energy cancelling bracelet) and stood at least four feet away. Ash spent most of his time having a staring contest with the panel he had almost pressed, Brock spent his marveling at the fine craftsmanship, and Dawn spent hers trying to get an ECC (energy cancelling collar) on Piplup.

They were just about to leave Professor Bael's colleagues to their research when the equipment suddenly shorted out, shooting smoke and electricity around the room. Someone screamed as the lights went out and the sounds of people running, falling, and hyperventilating were clear on Ash's ears.

"Piplup, where are you?" That was Dawn.

"Woah, uhh. Professor? Professor Bael! Are you alright?" Definitely Brock.

There was the sound of scrambling feet, "Yes I'm okay you big weirdo, get away from me!" Anyone could guess who that was.

But there was once voice he heard that no-one else seemed to notice. He felt a presence wash over him, _"Hello again Ash…"_

He shivered and moved away from the wall, but that turned out harder than it seemed at first. It was as if the further away he got, the harder it was to move, and he soon found himself drawn back to the wall.

"_Some business of ours is unfinished my dear boy."_

Thoroughly spooked, Ash watched in horror as his hand involuntarily reached for the panel yet again. He shouldn't press it, he knew. But, but…

"_You know what to do Ash."_

He could have sworn he saw a huge ghostly grin next to the button before his hand reached the panel, and he felt himself falling fast.

…..

**Authors Note:** Hah! Lately I've been favoring cliff hangers for some reason… Hope you all like! Review please! :)


	5. Ch 4: The Light is Gone

**Achluophobia**

**By WarriorLoverInc**

**Chapter Four: The Light is Gone**

"_The light be gone,_

_The sad now a song._

_Who once was free,_

_Now a pawn."_

"Is everyone alright!" The clearing smoke and dust had Dawn coughing, and hoping everyone was okay. Eventually she could make out the shapes of all the people who had been in the room, her Piplup ran up to her, "Pip pipip Piplup!" It was crying.

Dawn smiled, "I'm glad to see you're okay too Piplup."

Brock and Professor Bael ran up with Ash's Pikachu, "Dawn, have you seen Ash?" The Professor seemed to be in a near-panic state.

She shook her head no. The Professor Bit her lip, hard. "Not good, not good at all…" she muttered to herself.

Dawn was puzzled, "Why? What happened to him?"

Brock shrugged, "We have no clue! But follow us to see something."

She got to her feet and followed the pair to a giant hole in the ground that hadn't been there before, and Ash's hat was precisely on the edge. It was right at the base of the ENYO wall where they had found Ash standing the night before. She peered over the edge, it was dark and deep, she couldn't see the bottom. "Pikapiiii!" Pikachu called down the hole.

"You don't think…" Dawn was shocked, if Ash fell down there somehow, he could be really hurt.

"Alright people! We've discovered another room, I need you to—" The Professor had whipped around to order her colleagues around when she realized they were alone. "Curses…" she growled. They had all leaned over the hole, when Ceymore rushed into the room, "Oh Professor Bael! I'm so s-sorry I'm l-late!"

He frantically rushed over and accidentally pushed them all into the hole.

"AAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhh!"

Brock was falling face up with Ash's Pikachu clutching his head in fright. Professor Bael was berating a crying Ceymore, and Dawn was squeezing the life out of Piplup.

…..

Ash opened his eyes, where was he? The last thing he remembered was pressing the panel on the ENYO wall before a falling feeling took over. He sat up and rubbed his head. His eyes widened in shock as he took in his surroundings, he seemed to be in a gigantic cavern lit in an iridescent blue glow that had been carved into many statues, pillars, and runes like he had seen in the temple.

He got to his feet, "Brock! Dawn! Pikaaachuuu!" he called for his friends but the only reply was his own voice echoing around the cavern. He examined himself, no broken bones it seemed, though his hat was missing, he must've lost it when he fell. Looking down, he realized he had landed in the middle of a fountain and now his pants were soaked, Ash hopped off and glanced up. He _had_ fallen right? Wow, it must have been a long way.

Not knowing why, Ash began walking to his left, towards a huge statue in the shape of a man wearing an ancient style of clothing hefting what looked like a staff. Ash studied it, knowing he had seen it before. Then he realized where, in the temple on the ENYO wall. Was he still in the temple?

He spent the next few minutes walking around, calling for his friends, and gaping at the spectacle that was this huge underground cavern. He could've been there for days and still never cover every inch. Eventually he gave up and sat on an Espeon shaped statue bigger than he was.

_It must have taken a long time to carve out this whole cave, _he thought.

"_A long time, or lots of power."_

Ash flinched, he remembered that voice. Jumping to his feet, he shouted, "Who are you! Why did you bring me here!" He gritted his teeth.

The voice chuckled, _"Do I really have to tell you?" _

Ash growled, "Yes, you do." He tried to locate the voice, "Show yourself! You're hiding like a coward!"

"_Fine," _the voice sinisterly said, _"I will show myself."_

The shadows from the statues began to be pulled towards something forming in front of Ash. He backed up a step. A mirror image of Ash formed before him, it was the same with one exception, it was made of shadows so it was made of only black and gray shades. It smirked and suddenly turned into smoke that whirl-pooled into Ash's chest. Ash gasped and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was stand/floating in a dark void. Then the shadow appeared, still in his form. It grinned with such evil and malice at him, reminding Ash of the dark figure he had seen in the temple carving his first day on the site.

"Who—? What—are you?" Ash backed away from the darkness, fear evident in his voice and on his face.

"_I,"_ the shadow said in a layered voice, like two or more of the most malevolent voices on earth decided to speak together_, "am what those idiot ancient people called ENYO."_ A maniacal laugh erupted in the endless dark space all around them and echoed eerily back and forth. _"But my true name is Satoshi."_

This was the presence that had felt familiar to him, the one that had been calling out. Even its name felt oddly well-known to Ash. He clenched his fists, "Where am I now then Satoshi?" He was pretty ticked at this shadow, but it could be dangerous to provoke it, it had already proven to be powerful.

Satoshi put its hands behind its head, like Ash always did when he felt confident, and smirked. It had a wide toothy grin that was a startling contrast of white on black. _"Before, you were in a secret room of the temple where I and that accursed hero were sealed together."_ Satoshi smirked wider, _"But now that you're here, I don't need to worry about the hero any more, you're going to free me."_

_The gall of that thing,_ Ash thought. "And what makes you think I'm going to do that for you, huh?"

Satoshi sneered, _"You already have boy."_

Ash was immensely frightened, this thing radiated power. And he had supposedly done something to let it loose. Ash turned and did something totally uncharacteristic of himself, he ran.

In the distance, he could hear the shadow named Satoshi chuckle, and he remembered something he thought he had never heard.

"_Boy, your suffering has not yet even begun!"_

…..

**Authors Note:** Phew! Although I feel I could've done this chapter better…

Anyway, don't ask about the poem in the beginning, I needed something to rhyme with 'gone'.

_Review Please!_


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